SED TV Reviews

Just in case no one noticed, there’s been nothing new on SED TV for some time now. I was expecting a bit of positive news after Canon winning the appeal in June against Applied Nanotech.

However, we’re now in November. A number of trade shows have come and gone in the last few months with no sign of anything from Canon or SED Inc.

FPD 2008 in Japan, GITEX 2008 in Dubai, CEATEC 2008 in Japan, IFA 2008 in Berlin. These were all recent venues to show the SED TV and we’ve seen nothing.

The next big event in CES 2009 in LAs Vegas in January. It was two years ago that Canon and Toshiba pulled out at the last minute due to certain legal difficulties. What a disaster that was for SED TV.

If Canon/SED Inc. doesn’t show up at CES 2009 in January I will really start to wonder what they are up to and whether or not we will ever see a product from them.

On the Canon website, SED TV is mentioned as being part of one of it’s Core Engines.

“Canon’s Image Capture, Electrophotography, Inkjet, Photolithography and Display Engines are the five core engines of the company’s products. Each engine, a fusion of multiple technologies, represents the source of competitive excellence in Canon products.
As Canon works to create new engines, these core engines will be further enhanced through basic research and development of state-of-the-art technologies.”

SED TV is mentioned one of the two products in the Display Technologies Engine.

“The development of next-generation displays enables consumers to enjoy the recent surge in high quality, high-definition video content. Canon’s commitment to high quality in the fields of imaging and printing also extends to the area of displays, and the company is now focusing on commercializing SED* and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays.”

It would be great to see SED TV back at CES2009 after a long absence…

Thanks to Bryan for the tip.

There is an interesting opinion in the SED TV saga from the IP Update Newsletter at McDermott Will and Emery, a Washington legal firm.

Check out the article here.

The previous post about SED TV production was a bit inaccurate due to the poor translation. It appears to be a job posting at the SED Inc. production facility at the “Canon Inc. Hiratsuka business house”.

Two better translations can be found at the sites below:

Site1

Site2

Thanks to Edwin for the links.

An article appeared yesterday at area.e-aidem.com, a Japanese language site detailed SED TV production plans at the SED Inc. facility.

There is a translation posted at en.gigazine.net, but it’s not a very good one. I’ll post it below and if anyone can find a better tranlation, please leave a comment with a link. Thanks.

“Don’t you make a “the next generation” display together? SED incorporated company (Canon group businesses)

According to this offer of a position page, it is said that the number of people that the SED incorporated company which does the development of the next generation display “SED” and production in the perfect subsidiary company of Canon produces SED is invited.

Contents of work are to work with a day and night 3 change system with operation of the manufacture device in the clean room.

When do you put SED on the market on earth though it seems to be to start real production?

That is anxious about the price and the screen size because it is a thing with the next generation display which can be expected a light pattern, enlargement.

Posted by darkhorse_loga Sep 01, 2008 03:59:00 PM in Hardware, Memo”

Since April, the number of employees at SED Inc., Canon’s SED TV panel spin-off has increased from 387 to 635. In combination with the verdict in the Nano vs. Canon case, this is a good indication of a bright future for SED TV.

One question that arises is whether or not Canon will use the Nano technology for the SED panels, or their own that they have been working on since last year.

Thanks to Bryan for the tip.

AUSTIN, TX, Jul 28, 2008 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) — Applied Nanotech Holdings, Inc. announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its opinion in its litigation with Canon, Inc. The appeals court in part affirmed, and in part reversed, the rulings of the district court. While the appeals court accepted, without deciding, the district court’s decision that SED, Inc. as originally formed did not qualify as a Canon subsidiary, and that Canon had materially breached the contract, it found that termination of the license agreement was not an appropriate remedy. The appeals court also ruled that the restructured SED, Inc., which is 100% owned by Canon, now qualifies as a Canon subsidiary. The appeals court denied Applied Nanotech’s appeal that the district court had improperly excluded certain evidence from the trial. The decision reinstates Canon’s non-exclusive license to substantially all of Applied Nanotech’s field emission patents, excluding certain display applications. The entire ruling can be found at the court’s website at www.ca5.uscourts.gov.

from www.marketwatch.com

Canon is still working on getting an SED TV produced with a panel using their own technology. Hopefully we will see a Canon SED TV display at both CEATEC in Japan starting September 30th and CES2009 in Las Vegas next January.

In my opinion, the pressure on Canon has just increased with the announcement of the imminent (2009) production of FED TVs or field emission displays from FET, a spin-off from Sony. See FED TV link. Their plans include a 60″ consumer model FED TV after beginning with FED monitor shipments for broadcast and medical applications.

Also imminent, hopefully before 2009, is the decision in the Nano-Proprietary vs. Canon licensing dispute. The last court date was supposed to be June 4 with the decision expected within the next few months.

In any case, the next 6 months are very important for the future of SED television. With realistic sized OLED TV on the horizon and the expected competition from Field Emission Technologies, Canon needs to announce SED TV production to remain ahead of the pack.

Despite the lack of any news the last few months, Canon is still working away at SED TV. As part of Phase III of the Canon Excellent Global Corporation Plan, the following is No. 1 of their five key stategies:

“1. As we celebrate Canon’s 70th anniversary, we aim to achieve the overwhelming No. 1 position in existing businesses that have supported our growth to date. To enhance our market competitiveness, we will secure a new technological edge through the development of key components and key devices and the reinforcement of platform technologies. We will also work to bring to fruition the three display businesses currently under development: SED, organic LED displays, and projection displays.”

Interesting to see OLED TV in there. We haven’t heard too much from Canon on that yet.

Thanks to Bryan for the tip.

Just an update on Canon’s SED Inc. In Canon’s R&D Manufacturing and Marketing Subsidiaries and Affiliates list, SED Inc. is listed as currently having 387 employees and Activities / Production items is listed as SED panels. The address, if anyone would like to check it out is;

22-5, Tamura 9-chome, Hiratsuka-shi, Kanagawa 254-0013, Japan

I think we’re all looking forward to hearing more about the success of Canon’s new SED TV technology that avoids the original Nano patents.

Full list at: Canon R&D

Thanks to Bryan for the info.